On the Ridge
by Sirya Ebony Black
Summary: Canadian Sniper Bella and her spotter are on a joint mission with Gunnys Whitlock and Cullen. Written for Fandom for Soldiers


**On the Ridge**

 **By Sirya Black**

 **Written for "Fandom 4 Soldiers"**

 **'Twilight All Human One-shot'**

 **Characters:** Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, Jasper Whitlock, and Emmett McCarthy.

 **Summary:** In a sniper's den in Afghanistan a female Canadian sniper waits for her targets with her spotter and an American Sniper and his spotter.

 **Rating** **: T**  
 **Warnings:** Violence and Swearing

 **Disclaimer:** The author does not own any publicly recognizable entities herein. No copyright infringement is intended. **  
** **Beta** **:** Josh Oswald  
 **Pre-readers:** CJ Hand (ex- Canadian Military) and an American Marine (name withheld)

It's hot in the desert. I've been in this spot for two days. I knew going in I'd be here until my targets came into range. My spotter and I had seen the advance scouts yesterday. They didn't suspect a thing.

There are two of us here and our two spotters. We're expecting four to six targets and support personnel, which would be extra targets – the ones we shoot after we're done shooting the others. Emmett is watching the ridge carefully while I take a water break. Marine Gunnery Sergeant Jasper Whitlock is spotting for Gunny Sergeant and sniper Edward Cullen. It's weird working with another sniper team. Usually Master Corporal Emmett McCarthy (aka Bear) and I work alone, but the American Command doesn't trust us to get the job done, or they don't think I can do it because I'm a woman. Either way both Commands decided on a joint op.

The setup is better for me in a way, otherwise I'd be a tad touchy about being babysat. I'd asked Cullen to sign out extra ammo for me to use. Their .50 caliber rounds burn hotter than the stuff the Canadian military issues, which means I can shoot farther, and since the Rob Furlong shot in Shah-I-Kot Valley back in 2002 the American snipers are quick to help us out.

You'd think after that record breaking shot the Canadian Military would have helped us out. Instead they were more concerned with the fact that Canada even _had_ snipers being made public knowledge. Of course we aren't called snipers; we're Rangers. Not that it wasn't known before that snipers were a part of the military, every army has them, it just was never publicly acknowledged or published in a major newspaper or international magazine.

I'm actually American born, but I joined the Canadian Military because they don't have limits about women in combat, unlike the Americans. From the way Whitlock and Cullen are acting, makes a lot of sense. Both of them are of the opinion that I shouldn't be here on the front lines, that I'm a distraction. They haven't said as much, but the attitude is there. So are the watchful eyes, making sure I'm doing my job.

My dad was all for me going up to Vancouver, Canada to join their military. Being the Chief of Police in his little town, he was proud I wanted to serve, even if it was for an ally rather than for the U.S. My mother has been a basket case every time I talk to her. I get more mail than everyone else in my unit because she sends care packages every week, but that makes me popular with everyone since mom doesn't only send stuff for me. I have to wonder about her sometimes. She's sent more soft porn than I've ever seen before, but I know for a fact Phil buys the 'reading material' for the guys in my unit. I still keep the Guns and Ammo for a first read through before I hand that over though. Still she keeps us supplied with comforts from home. She even orders "Timmy's" coffee online so she can send it to us from Florida.*

Bear has been my spotter since sniper training. He and I instantly bonded over a bar fight. An idiot named Mike Newton said I shouldn't be in the training program since there was no way anyone would send me into the desert after the Jessica Lynch incident, and I was a waste of a slot that could have gone to his buddy Taylor. Bear laughed and said that they'd be stupid not to since I could out shoot everyone in the program (although that wasn't true, I graduated second in my class of fifteen). They had traded cheap shots and I was going to just ignore the idiot until he suggested I wasn't making my scores on the range. I was just a whore for the range officer. At which point I threw my drink in his face and told him anywhere and anytime, and I'd not only out-shoot him but I'd take him in hand-to-hand and I'd make sure he couldn't use his mouth to get the range officer to give _him_ a break. Needless to say that started off the bar fight. Bear loved my attitude and made himself my partner the next day. That took a lot of pressure off me since no one wanted to get on Bear's bad side.

Looking up at the bright sun I could feel the sun's rays heating my desert camo paint. Hell the damn stuff had melted a bit and it was going to take forever to get it and all the desert dirt out of my pores once I get back stateside. I used the sweat on my forehead to help keep my hair back off my face. My hair is long brown and tightly pulled back into a braid and bun. I have had a few fly-aways because it's been 2 days since I put it up and used sunscreen to grease it in place before placing my desert gear on. My figure is too slight and my height makes trying to hide the fact I'm female impossible at close range, so I never bothered to cut my hair off like most female solders did. And let's face it, if the enemy gets close enough and sees my hair and body, we are likely to end up dead anyway.

Still having a man the size of a small mountain for my spotter helps since he can carry some of my gear, which is heavier than an average pack, over longer distances. I can do it on my own if need be, but we travel faster when he helps. Unfortunately our normal gear routine has left Edward and Jasper with the impression that I'm weak, and to be honest the operation is too important for me to argue the point with them. Both of them are keeping their distance from me, but as I mentioned before I can often see one of them watching me and making sure I'm fine, and not having a fainting spell or some other weak crap they are imagining over there. It's annoying as all hell though, which is why I'm thinking about it yet again. I can feel it when they are staring and one is now, I just know it.

I put the water away and move slightly over to the side before pulling the catheter line down so I can empty the bag down an animal hole I found on the edge of the ridge we are hiding on. That's the part of my personal routine about being a sniper in a long-term den that I hate. Liquid diet and storing the waste, it helps to avoid awkwardness with Bear since I can't just "whip it out" for half of my 'human moments' as he can.

As I turn back I can see Cullen is a little red in the face and neck. Either he got a sunburn in the last five minutes or he was watching me until I started to release and is now embarrassed. I'm betting on the latter.

"Sarge, movement." Bear whispers.

I look up and give him a quick nod then move slowly back into position. I take a side look and see Cullen and Whitlock are also on alert. I flick my comm gear on and take my prep breaths and I start to find my spot. Earlier Cullen and I arranged where and when we were going to shoot. We also agreed on who in line we would take a shot at. I get targets one, three, and then it's a free-for-all.

"Comm check PP One." I breath into my comm unit. PP stand for Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI, generally referred to "The Patricias") Battalion.

"Comm check PP Two." I hear clear but softly from Bear.

"Comm check Hawk One." I hear Cullen's velvety voice softly like he's breathing in my ear. I can't help but shiver just slightly. Luckily Bear is looking at the ridge and doesn't see me.

"Comm check Hawk Two." Whitlock's voice growls in my ear, although it too is very soft.

I gauge the wind speed and check in with Cullen and Bear. "Wind five, on point one." I say, letting them know Bear and I had calculated the wind speed that I need to adjust for on my first point of reference. I can see the movement coming slowly into range. I need to wait for the targets to walk into the point of the cross-hairs. That will put the bullet hopefully into a kill zone on the target.

"Wind five, on point one, acknowledged. Wind five on point two." So Cullen agreed with me about wind speed, good. I hate that I have someone second guessing me but at least we agree so there will be no arguments.

"Ten signals, six targets." Whitlock reports.

"Seen ten signals, six targets confirmed." Bear says. "Command copy? Over." Bear says into the command radio. We are co-coordinating with American Command since it doesn't make sense for us to get orders from different officers while working together. I was surprised they gave me shots one, three and possibly five, till I realized it was because they wanted the first target shot from a stationary spot and the others to be movement. So my first target would walk into the bullet and the others might have a chance at escape while I reset my shot. It's wishful thinking unless I get very lucky, cold shots are almost always a miss without range flags to tell how the wind is further down range. All of Cullen's shots would be on the move unless we timed the first shot to be simultaneous.

"Taking target one on my mark." I said. I was waiting for the most important one. The tallest of the targets to walk into my sight. My secondary target was right behind him with a RPG shoulder unit. I would likely not even have to move my rifle more than three degrees to get him too. I wanted to take him fast since that shoulder rocket could kill all four of us if he hit even pretty close.

"Taking target two on your mark." Cullen replied.

I take a deep breath and blow slowly. I could hear Cullen doing the same. Once I was almost out of air I counted down. "On three... one... two.. three." I squeezed the trigger firmly as I said the last syllable of three. Just over a second later I saw a puff of smoke near target one. Bear called out a correction and I adjusted and fired again. I was lucky, all the targets had frozen as the crack of the shots rang and reverberated across the gorge. Target one explode in a shower of gore, and half a second later another person jerked and fell down to the ground. I adjusted my shot to target two as Bear called out the wind adjustments and scope change degree so I could find my next target in seconds.

"PP target one down." Bear reported.

"Hawk target two down." Whitlock confirmed to both us and Command.

Both our spotters began talking to us, helping us keep our target movements in focus. My second target was still frozen likely trying the trace the sound, not that it was possible with the echo, which made taking my second shot easy. Instead of calling out I just took my shot since I hadn't taken a breath yet. Once the shot was fired I took a deep breath and began slowly letting it out. "Where is target three, Bear?"

"PP target two down." Bear responded, as my third bullet took the second RPG holder off his feet. "Target three heading for cover two." He called the adjustment.

"On it." I said as I readjusted my rifle for the second of two boulders that the targets could have gotten behind. He was too well hidden for me to take my shot. But I could see one of the secondary targets was carrying the dropped RPG and unlike my second shot he wasn't frozen. "Target covered. Watch him Bear. Moving on to secondary target, RPG." I said, so Cullen would know what I was doing.

"Hawk target four down." Whitlock said. His voice was more background noise to me, but the information was useful, so I noted it without acknowledgement.

My newest target had a chance to scan the area trying to see where we were hiding, He was only partially behind cover in the form a small bush, but I could see his upper body clearly. I took my breath and let it go then made sure my crosshair was set before I squeezed the trigger for a fourth time. I could see through the scope it wasn't a clean kill, but the target was down. He might get back up, but not before this battle was over.

"PP secondary target RPG down." Bear called. "Target five still covered."

I again adjusted my rifle this time back to the target when I heard, "Hawk target six down." from Whitlock. "Moving on to secondary targets."

I stared through my scope and could just see the right shoulder of my target peaking out of the cover. It would be a hard shot, but even if I missed I could use it as a tracer round to make a tiny adjustment, and it might just scare him into popping out of cover. I took my shot.

It missed, and it ricocheted off the rock leaving a very distinctive puff of dust behind. My shot had the desired effect, the target pulled his body away from the spot the bullet had hit making a larger portion of his upper body available to my scope. It was still going to be a hard but the puff of dust and location of my last shot made this one easier than it could have been. I lined everything up and waited just a moment while the man seemed to be trying to give commands to his men who were now taking cover behind their fallen commanders, or the other boulder. He never felt it as the bullet took him in the temple.

"PP target five is down." Bear reported once more. "All primary targets down."

"Four secondary targets are down, two are running." Whitlock reported.

I let out a sigh and then began to shake. It was just the adrenaline finally making its way through my body. It was one of the freaky things about me that Bear and I had to figure out and understand about each other. I could stay focused until the shots where done and then I shook for a few minutes before I could go confirm my kills. Bear stood watch over me while I went through my post-shot ritual of slow breathing and semi-meditation to re-center myself. To anyone watching (aka Whitlock and Cullen) it looked like I was still scanning my targets to make sure they were down and staying that way. I couldn't show weakness now. I was aware of Whitlock and Cullen, talking and pulling their gear together.

I took one last long calming breath and then slid back so I could stand without giving our nest away to anyone in case they were still watching from across the ridge. We had to wait anyway for the all clear from Command before we could go check our killed and document them.

Edward and Jasper came over to us. "Not bad." Jasper admitted with a look that suggested it hurt a little to be complimentary.

I shrugged. It took a little effort this soon to appear nonchalant. I was still a little shaky and didn't trust my voice. Of course with Bear here I didn't have to. "Not bad?" Bear cried out in fake dismay. "My girl here is totally bad ass awesome!" He threw his arm around my shoulders and pulled me tight against his side. Edward looked a little uncomfortable so I just rolled my eyes, and gave him a little smile.

Edward gave a little smile back but his eyes seemed to be focused on Bear's arm around me. Inwardly I groaned. I knew what he was thinking because I'd been asked dozens of times if Bear and I were sleeping together. Everyone assumed since we worked so close that that's the type of relationship we developed. Nothing could be further from the truth and for once I wanted to correct that assumption.

"Of course I am brother dear. Now kindly release me before you break my collarbone and have to carry all my gear back to base." I huffed playfully at him.

Whitlock grumbled something softly to Edward. He turned to Whitlock with a scowl. "Knock it off. She is pulling her own weight."

I snorted. "I can carry more than that, but you guys actually did your job so I don't have to cover for you." I threw a playful wink at Edward and he actually laughed softly. Whitlock glared at me.

"Could have fooled me." He replied with a bit of a angry snarl just lightly showing.

Bear moved in front of me and crossed his arms. "You got something to say about the way my girl handles her gun?"

Whitlock smirked. "She needs you to carry it, and obviously can't find her own battles."

I sigh and back away. Bear is about to give Whitlock a good verbal beat down about how it's none of Whitlock's business how we work as a team, and how he was the one who required I hand over my equipment. Not because I needed him to carry it, but because it gave him one more way to increase his muscle mass.

Edward follows me around the edge of the outcropping so we could still hear them with their raised voices, but we were out of sight. I wished Command would just give the all clear. Whitlock and Bear had been on edge all mission, I wasn't surprised at all by this outburst.

"I'm sorry about that." Edward said softly. "You don't deserve to be degraded like that."

"I'm used to it Gunny." I said softly not looking directly at him but at my feet. I was used to the attitude, but it didn't mean I liked it.

"You shouldn't have to be." He said with a bit of his blush showing through.

I chuckled. "Well it is why I joined the Canadian military instead of the U.S. At least with the Canadian military I can get a combat posting."

Edward's eyes widened. "You're American?" His tone sounded astonished and maybe a bit hopeful.

"Born and raised." I chuckled. "My dad's a police chief in a little town in Washington State. My mom was a Canadian so when I was born I was automatically a dual citizen. After 9/11 I knew I wanted a combat posting, not support staff."

"I'm originally from Chicago but my parents moved to Washington state just after I joined the Marines." He says with a small smile.

"I plan to go back after this deployment." I tell him. "This is the last combat deployment for Canada and we are scaling back our troops in the area. I've been in for a few years and I think it's time to go back and maybe join the police department in Port Angeles."

Edward bit his lip. "Why not Forks?"

I laughed at the idea of taking orders from my dad. "No way I'm I going to work for Chief Swan." I suddenly stopped and looked at him sharply. "Why did you ask about.."

"Forks?" He cut in. I nodded and waited for his response. "Well my dad is the new chief of staff for the hospital there."

"No way!" I cry out surprised. "Doc Hollywood is your dad?" I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was because both of them were drop dead gorgeous but in different ways. Still I was surprised. Sue, dad's wife had nicknamed the Doc and of course since I hadn't met him I'd picked up on the moniker.

Edward groaned and hide his face in his hands. "Yeah."

I laughed and explained how he got the nickname from my stepmom. "So are you planning to go back after you get out of here?"

"Yeah for a bit. I have two months left here and then I go back and either get out or re-enlist."

"Which are you thinking of?" I asked him.

"Well I have an offer from NCIS to join them or like you a few police departments. I was mostly thinking about in Seattle."

"Weird. I had an offer from Seattle PD too, but after being here I was thinking I'd like something closer to dad."

We were having a moment where we were just looking into each other's eyes. I was hoping he was thinking what I was thinking, that it would be great to meet up after we got back stateside. I hoped so, but at the moment he opened his mouth to say something else Whitlock and Bear came around the corner. "Command gave us the all clear." Bear explained. I nodded and went to pick up my gear. We were going to evac'ed out from the body site. Bear cleared his throat really loudly making me look up. Whitlock was looking red and embarrassed.

"Sorry for stepping out of line Ma'am." He said crisply.

"Apology accepted Gunny." I said just as military sharp. "Let's head out gentlemen."

As we walked away I heard him ask Edward softly. "She's Chief Swan's kid?" They obviously didn't realize they were broadcasting to our local comm lines still. Bear and I glanced at each other and kept quiet as we walked about 40 yards ahead of them. I quickly figured out Edward and I had left our comms open to our local channel which is how Whitlock knew who I was. Since they were still talking I figured Edward hadn't put it together yet.

"Yup."

"Damn, he's going to kick my ass for suggesting she was soft."

Edward sounded smug as he responded. "Yup."

"You still thinking of asking her out now that you know who she is? Cuz it could be awkward if you were looking for a pick-up."

"Jasper, you are about to get knocked the fuck out." Edward responded irritably.

"I'm just asking because you didn't know who she was before, and now you do." Jasper sounded defensive. "you were thinking about it for the past two days."

"I'm not that kind of guy Jasper, and you know it." Edward sighed, exasperation clearly ringing in his velvety voice. "And I was thinking about asking her out over a week ago during planning, not just the past two days."

I decided I should end this before they said anything really embarrassing. "That's good to know because I'm not that kind of girl either." I said dryly.

"What the fuck?" Whitlock exclaimed.

"The comm is open, you pricks." Bear laughed.

"Aw shit I forgot to tell you man." Whitlock mutters to Edward.

"Just kill me now." Edward sighs.

I try not to giggle but can't help it. The rest join in laughing. "To answer you both. Yes Whitlock, dad is going to kill you for being mean to his baby girl, who could take you apart with her bare hands if she really wanted to. And yes, Edward, I'll go out on a date with you once we are both back stateside in a few months. I'm sure you can find my dad's number when we get back."

"Sounds like a plan." Edward chuckles as they both catch up to us.

I look over at him and give him a flirty smile but we both keep a professional distance. A war zone was no place for romance.

* Timmy's coffee comes from the Canadian version of Duncan Donuts called Tim Hortons. Tim Hortons actually opened a coffee stand when Canada deployed oversea to Kandahar so the soldiers could get their morning coffee. .


End file.
